In early-January 2018, I stumbled upon Alan & Angela Wildman's original posting (dated Friday, 8th September 2017) in the forum's "Sales & Wants" section, but owing to the constraints imposed by daylight duration, weather conditions, health and the availability of my local VW Type 2 campervan pal James (also has a Ford C-Max in which we could carry large, bulky items), we were unable to arrange a visit until early-June 2018, about 5 months later.
Board index » The Triumph Dolomite Club » Sales & Wants » Parts & Automobilia for Sale » Breaking Dolomite 1500 Auto, Maldon, Essex.
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The Triumph Dolomite Club » Sales & Wants » Parts & Automobilia for Sale » Dolomite parts Maldon Essex
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On Tuesday, 5th June 2018 & Sunday, 19th November 2018, I and my pal James were able to visit Alan & Angela Wildman, in Maldon, Essex (within reasonable travelling distance of Canvey Island, Essex), to acquire several second-hand parts originating from a 1975 Triumph 1500TC and from their 1979/80 Triumph Dolomite 1500HL Automatic.
The prices they specified were very reasonable and was too good an offer to refuse; enabling me to obtain many items at modest cost needed for my refurbishment & upgrade programme as well as some useful backup spares in case of vital-component failure or deterioration in the years to come. The components & systems I acquired were as follows:
1979/80 Dolomite 1500 HL systems & components:
· Original lifting jack & wheel brace;
· Complete set of sun visors, with mountings & fixing screws;
· Interior rear-view mirror (anti-dazzle dipping type) complete with mounting base & screws;
· Heater unit with control-levers, demister grille, upper & lower plastic hot-air ducts and under-dashboard heater vent;
· Complete dashboard apart from the main instrument panel and attachment brackets at either end;
· Ventilation-system flexible hoses;
· Bonnet-lid ventilation-grille rubber seal;
· Under-dashboard parcel shelf;
· Virtually-complete front & rear wiring loom;
· Windscreen-wiper motor & mounting plate;
· Windscreen-wiper arms & blades;
· Rear fog-lamp switch;
· Hand-brake lever assembly (with tell-tale light switch) & cables;
· Boot-compartment bulkhead cover;
· Boot-lid lock with matching keys;
· Boot-lid rubber seal;
· Throttle cable;
· Choke cable with choke-on tell-tale switch;
· Complete front suspension system and front wheel-hub assemblies, but not including brake calipers;
· Offside front direction-indicator & side-light unit;
· One front-bumper mounting bracket;
· Miscellaneous collection of rubber door-seal fragments;
1975 Triumph 1500 TC systems & components:
· Offside rear passenger door;
· Complete rear axle (Serial No.
DM 29208 A) with hydraulic-brake cylinders, brake drums & backplates, rear-suspension trailing arms and spring & damper struts.
So far, I have partially disassembled the suspension front-wishbone assemblies so that I can more easily store the various components for the moment, which I might refurbish so that I can simply remove my Toledo’s existing suspension components and almost immediately replace them with refurbished Dolomite ones. I shall also remove the trailing arms and spring & damper struts from the Triumph 1500 TC rear axle for the same reasons.
One difference I have noticed already, is that the Dolomite HL’s lower wishbones fit into the wishbone-bracket with some sort of bearing or rose-joint. Each of the Toledo’s lower wishbones fit into the wishbone-bracket using two rubber bushes and two metal cones.
It will be interesting to find out which is the better option!?!
I have also had a closer look at the Dolomite HL's hand-brake lever mechanism, which appears to have a Lucas electrical contact-switch (marked Lucas | UK 139 SA | 35624 B | 2280) of some sort, with ¼-inch spade-terminal (appears to be slightly distorted at the moment | to connect the instrument-panel warning light, which has a 12V positive supply), that I think will complete the circuit to Earth via the hand-brake lever mechanism, when the hand-brake is applied. I shall dig out my multi-range meter (volts, amps & ohms) to check the functionality.
Ideally, I would prefer to refit this switch on my existing Toledo hand-brake lever mechanism, but I don't know whether they are inter-compatible; having yet to remove my Toledo's existing front Dolomite HL seats and carpet to examine the hand-brake lever mechanism.
All being well, I now have the necessary warning-light switches for low fuel-level, carburettor-choke-on and hand-brake-lever-on, which Dolomite HL drivers take for granted. Wiring it all up will be the next challenge, once I have redesigned and modified the substitute Dolomite 1500 HL wiring loom, which needs to accommodate my various supplementary warning lights & tell-tell lights, supplementary gauges and other useful accessories that I have been slowly collecting over the years.
_________________
Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758
Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)
Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club